FASCar®

DLR FASCar

The Institute of Transportation Systems develops driver assistance systems according to the needs and demands of the driver. In order to find out whether the driver reacts to the new assistance system’s interventions appropriately, test runs with the FASCar are the last consistent step of development.

The FASCar is a test vehicle for the evaluation of novel, active assistance systems with a focus on haptic driver assistance. It offers two modes of operation. The “road mode” fulfils highest safety requirements for testing in real road traffic. The driver assistance system only intervenes actively in a constricted way, oversteering and a secure shutdown of the systems are possible at any moment. In the “test ground mode” all means of intervention – including autonomous driving - can be deployed. Gas, brakes and steering wheel are actuated by a “virtual co-pilot”.

Equipment

For any possible intervention into vehicle dynamics up to autonomous driving, the FASCar features some additional equipment:

Computer equipment for developing and testing prototypal assistance systems and for recording and visualising measured data

Due to its modular configuration, the FASCar can be flexibly equipped with further sensors according to the demands of any test.

Application

Various driver assistance systems are being developed in the Institute of Transportation Systems to make driving more save and user friendly. The trend goes increasingly from passive towards active safety and therefore also from manual towards semi-autonomous driving. The human driver and a virtual co-pilot complement each other in executing driving tasks. Assistance systems using the haptic perception channel enable a very fast feedback from co-driver to driver. Because of the FASCar’s open architecture the institute as well as its partners and customers may implement prototypical assistance systems for test and evaluation. Those may be implemented as code or as own control devices via CAN.

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